Sleep of the Oranges Special Screening in the 4th International Lake Van Film Festival

09.12.2015

Turkey |

The documentary Sleep of the Oranges, produced by our Grant Scheme recipients Producer Ferzan Özyaşar and Director Eylem Şen, goes on telling the story of Musadagh, now in Van. The 4th Uluslararası Van Gölü FilmFestivali has its theme "Getting face to face in the 100th year: Cultural Heritage”. A special screening will take place on the 9th of December, at 20.00 in Anka Culture and Arts Center.

The documentary project aims to contribute to the reconciliation between the peoples of Turkey and Armenia through exploring identities of generations of Armenian and Turkish families from Vakıflı - the last Armenian village in Turkey with population of only 135. The documentary has been produced with the assistance of the European Union within the framework of the programme Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process.

With the deportation law passed in 1915, the Musadagh Armenians were forced to leave their homes to Aleppo, and from there to their final destinations of exile. Taking refuge in the mountains surrounding their villages in order to escape the fatal results of deportation, they created an unexpected resistance. They then passed the memories of this honorable struggle from generation to generation. Hasmig Martiryan is one of the young women who grew up listening to these memories, dreaming to see Musadagh herself.

In this documentary, following the footsteps of her ancestors, she goes through an odyssey of her own to discover her roots, identity, history and home.

Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) in collaboration with TOG (Community Volunteers Foundation, Turkey) organised an exchange visit of Armenia-based youth workers and volunteers to Istanbul, Izmit and Eskişehir on July 18-23, 2017 implemented as a part of EPF’s YouthBank activity within the framework of programme Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process, funded by the European Union.